1. Technical Field
This invention relates in general to electronic communications and, more particularly, to a calendar interface to multiple communication streams.
2. Description of the Related Art
For many years, the vast majority of communications were either voice communications over the telephone or written communications sent by mail. Over the last decade, the options for communication have increased dramatically. Now, telephonic communications are provided not only by wireline connections, but also through wireless telephone and IP (Internet protocol) telephones, also referred to as packet phones or VOIP (voice over IP) telephones, which communicate over a network, such as the Internet. IP telephones include, for example, standalone dedicated units, ATAs (analog telephone adapters, which perform the necessary translation to adapt a standard analog phone for VOIP communications), and “soft” phones that are executed on a computing device, such as a computer or personal digital assistant (PDA). In addition, electronic mail (email) and instant messaging has largely replaced mail as the main form of written communication. In addition to written communications, messaging applications often provide voice and visual communication between two or more parties. A single computer could be simultaneously executing an email application, a VOIP telephone application, and multiple instant messaging windows (or a single application that unifies multiple communication types).
Accordingly, a person may be receiving information from a number of sources—cell phone, wireline phone, IP phone, email and instant messaging. This can result in a data overload, making it difficult for a user to organize the information and to docket events based on the information.
Therefore, a need has arisen for an improved method and apparatus for interfacing with various digital communication sources.